


We Dwell in the Heat

by Severina



Category: Young Riders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-09-06
Updated: 2003-09-06
Packaged: 2017-10-23 11:27:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a hot summer night, Buck and Ike slip away to be together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Dwell in the Heat

Sleep is a rare commodity in the halcyon days of mid summer. The heat shimmers in the air, a sentient force, a rabid beast with jagged claws that endeavours to crush the land in its mammoth fist. It takes hold of all of us, shakes us, leaves us wilting and ragged as we trudge through the dust. Seconds become minutes and minutes become hours and still the heat presses against us like a living thing, a breathing wall of heavy air that we must push through, struggle through, wrestle to the ground in a battle of wills.

Scorched by the relentless rays of Mother Sun, parched by her merciless fury, I was able to hold my irritation in check while on my run only by the thought of what awaited me at the way station on my return home. Cool, fresh well water to bathe my seared skin. Home made biscuits to satisfy my hunger and refreshing lemonade to quench my thirst. And the soft caresses of my lover, furtive and stolen though they must be, to lighten my heart.

We share surreptitious glances throughout dinner, engaged in a dance that only we can understand. He touches me on the shoulder as he passes my bunk on his way to the card table, and the shiver that steals through my frame cannot be suppressed. The lingering trace of his fingers burns my flesh more fervently than the fire of a thousand suns. His eyes meet mine as we undress for bed… as Jimmy and Cody chatter mindlessly around us… and Lou and Kid bicker and pout and then reconcile in a heartbeat… and I want to press my hand to his cheek, feel his lips on my knuckles, my palm, my wrist. The heat pulses against us and I take in deep heavy breaths of the humid air and I know that we must wait.

When I awaken just before dawn, he is gone.

I check on our friends. All sleeping still, finally, limp bodies draped over limp sheets, arms and legs strewn out in an unknowing parody of an icon, all in a fruitless attempt to find relief from the heartless weather, the fiery tyrant that knows nothing of compassion.

I don’t bother with boots, or hat, or shirt, or pants… choosing to slip outside dressed only in my long johns. I look toward the mountains, catching a glimpse of the sun, orange-clad today, peeking from between the farthest peaks. She seems to wink at me as I follow the trail Ike has left, my eyes tracking the subtle impressions his bare soles have left in the dust, my own unprotected feet treading the same path as him, feeling a strange and perplexing thrill in knowing that my flesh is touching the same dirt, the same pebbles, the same tiny blades of grass labouring to flourish in this hostile climate.

The trail veers off behind the barn… into the field… and now the sweet grass clings to my calves, reaches out to clutch at my bedclothes. I brush patiently through its yellow-tinged fingers, unhurried but unyielding, until I see the familiar curve of his shoulders, the bend of his neck, and I can no longer control the beat of my heart or the motion of my limbs, and I fall breathlessly to my knees beside him.

Ike smiles, and I give into temptation, do what I’ve wanted to do since I returned home yesterday. I raise my hand to brush his lips with my thumb. I sigh as his lips part, warm and soft against my calloused skin. He leans into my touch, and my hand moves to cup his chin, to caress his cheek, to stroke the fine line of his brow. His eyes close as my hand trails to the nape of his neck, pulling him closer, and I swallow his breath, swallow his moan as our lips come together and then I‘m inside, diving into that delicious warmth, and our tongues dance and swirl and probe as we move as one to lay in the long grass.

My fingers blaze a path along his skin, pushing away the thin fabric that separates us and feeling his hands do the same. I trace intricate patterns on his chest, his thighs, his legs, for my last run seemed endless and I have been away from these things for far too long. And when I am done worshipping him with my hands, my lips repeat the process. I nip at the tender pale flesh of his stomach then soothe the ache with my tongue… let my roving hands tease his nipples until the hardened nubs press into my palms… paint a trail of saliva and lust along every inch of his body. The sun beats ruthlessly against my back and the sweat that runs in rivulets on my skin feels vibrant, alive. As he makes me feel alive.

Then his back arches beneath me and his hands scrabble for purchase and his head rocks from side to side in a silent plea for release, for completion, and I can’t resist the urge to take his lips again, to crush them against mine as I lift his legs, as I stroke his chest, as I give him what he wants, what we both want, and slide effortlessly inside him. His glazed eyes fly open to meet mine, filled like his with equal measure of love and desire and pleasure and need. I struggle to suppress my cries of satisfaction, and I press my forehead to his as we rock together, joined together in the only way we can be, in secrecy and in silence.

The sun rises to take her place in the sky, and the golden rays seem to pierce my skin, the very air simmering around us like a great winged creature, breathing ravenously against our flesh. My fingers twine with his as I draw in great gasps of air, as our lips meet again, as we both wordlessly make promises that we pray we can keep. Our bodies meld together seamlessly, flawlessly, perfectly. We are one, as we dwell in the heat.


End file.
